7 Surprising Things You Didn't Know About Trading Spaces

If you lost your mind over the return of Trading Spaces, then yesterday was a big day for you, because TLC announced that the show's reboot has been renewed for a second season. Just in time for this amazing news, I hung out with Paige Davis, the show's host, to ask her the nosiest questions I could think of. What? I really wanted to find out some dirt on the show. Here, the seven best secrets and stories she shared.

1. Paige Davis found out about the reboot on social media.

Though fans had been reaching out to the cast for years, begging for Trading Spaces to come back to TV, the actual news of the show's return was a complete surprise, even for the host. "I found out when everybody else found out," she said. "I woke up to my phone vibrating on my night stand — to text messages and social media messages coming in, and I was like, 'What?!'"

2. A woman crashed the set in a wedding dress.

Why? So she could propose to Ty Pennington, one of the show's beloved carpenters. (Can you blame her?) This was the craziest encounter Paige could remember, but according to her, it wasn't uncommon for fans of the show to hang around during filming. "The fans used to gather on the sidewalk a lot and watch and hold up signs — American Idol-style — and that was always really great," she said.

A post shared by Paige Davis (@realpaigedavis) on May 6, 2018 at 6:40am PDT

3. There was once an incident that required an emergency Wet Vac.

With all the construction, painting and redesign happening on the show, I had to ask Paige if there were ever any disasters on set. For her, one accident in particular stands out above all the rest.

"Vern and I were goofing around. He did this Hollywood-themed lounge space, and he was doing a padded wall," she explained. The pair decided that running into the padded wall would make for great hyperlapse footage, so they went for it.

"So we’re running like crazy and laughing. Run, run, run, SLAM!Run, run, run, SLAM!Run, Run, Run, 'OOOHH NO!' We stepped in black paint and tracked it all through the beige carpet in that space. It wasn’t carpet we laid; It was their carpet that he was going to use still." Yikes.

The crew had to rent a Wet Vac immediately. Luckily, the paint eventually came out. "The trick to getting paint out of something is to do it fast, while it’s still wet; that helped a lot," she explained.

4. They came extremely close to filming in all 50 of the United States.

If you've ever questioned whether or not Trading Spaces actually filmed in the locations they said they did, here's your answer: "Including Alaska and Hawaii, there were only 7 states we never went to," she revealed.

5. There was never an episode that got cancelled.

With all the moving parts involved in filming a home improvement reality show, you'd kind of expect an episode or two to get cut. It's happened to the Property Brothers, as well as countless other shows over the years. But apparently, nothing filmed for Trading Spaces ever went so off the rails it had to be axed. "I’m trying to remember if there was any postponing that had to happen after 9/11. I think there might’ve been a day's worth of postponement, but that’s it. Nothing ever got canceled," Paige said.

6. There's no TV magic happening behind-the-scenes.

Trading Spaces is not phoning it in, so don't get it twisted. "There’s no art department who comes in and does it all. That’s why it’s very important that we prep. So we use Scotch Blue painter’s tape on set," says Paige, adding that the cast and crew is, "always in for a big headache if we don’t prep properly." From painting to carpentry, the team tries to never skip this step. But it has happened.

7. Carter Oosterhouse accidentally built a bed frame around a pole.

During the show's latest season, carpenter Carter Oosterhouse proved why you should always plan before building.

"Carter was making a bed for Doug’s room, and he built the entire frame—the wood had not only been drilled, but glued — and he realized he had built the frame around one of the poles of the carpentry tent," Paige said. "So it was locked into the tent. It was just so stupid. I was like, 'Carter, think first!'"

Apparently while filming for that same episode, Carter made a dresser that fit perfectly in the room, but it was too big to fit through the door. Oops.

A Part of Hearst Digital Media
House Beautiful participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites.